Critics say data proves New York’s liability shield is linked to higher nursing home death rates during the pandemic.
By David Sirota
As Governor Andrew Cuomo faced a spirited challenge in his bid to win New York’s 2018 Democratic primary, his political apparatus got a last-minute boost: a powerful healthcare industry group suddenly poured more than $1m into a Democratic committee backing his campaign.
Less than two years after that flood of cash from the Greater New York
Hospital Association (GNYHA), Cuomo signed legislation last month
quietly shielding hospital and nursing home executives from the threat
of lawsuits stemming from the coronavirus outbreak. The provision,
inserted into an annual budget bill by Cuomo’s aides, created one of the
nation’s most explicit immunity protections for healthcare industry
officials, according to legal experts.
Critics say Cuomo removed a key deterrent against nursing home and
hospital corporations cutting corners in ways that jeopardize lives. As
those critics now try to repeal the provision during this final week of
Albany’s legislative session, they assert that data prove such immunity
is correlating to higher nursing home death rates during the pandemic –
both in New York and in other states enacting similar immunity policies.
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Source: The Guardian
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